WARREN, Ark. (3/27/26) – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors met inside the hospital’s conference room for its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 26 and introduced Ethan Vickers as the board’s newest member. Topics covered included financial updates, executive updates, annual approval of policies, and votes to use sales tax funds on a variety of items.
Vickers was formally introduced and said a few words before the minutes from the previous meeting were approved. Next on the agenda was the introduction of BCMC’s new Marketing Directory Tiffany White. She has been on the job for a little over a month and formally introduced herself to the board. She’s a native of Warren and most recently worked at Delta Memorial Hospital in Dumas, Ark. Her current areas of focus include the BCMC Rural Health Clinic, Swing Bed, and Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. She has been working with case managers at larger facilities to get referrals for people who can do their therapy or swing bed here. There has already been a noticeable increase in referrals for Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation since she started.
CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt reported the financials to the board and did a bit of a deeper dive into the numbers and advantages of being a Critical Access Hospital since it was Vickers’ first meeting. She noted that outpatient volumes were up compared to last month, while inpatient numbers were down. Total gross patient revenue was $3,462,988 with the net operating revenue coming in at $1,645,975. The hospital experienced a net loss of $170,152 for the month. She noted that revenue in February was up and expenses were down, but higher contractual adjustments contributed to a loss from operations. There is just over $6 million in the sales tax fund after generating $123,697.10 last month.
Huitt informed the board that the cost report has been submitted, and BCMC should expect to receive around $711,000. Cash is down so far this year, but she reported the hospital has not used much sales tax money so far. Even with cash being down, the hospital has not taken money out of its certificates of deposit (CDs) and has been able to reinvest the interest.
The BCMC Rural Health Clinic saw 47 new patients last month Huitt was happy to report. This does not include any numbers since Dr. Bradley Biggers started at the beginning of March. She concluded her update about the Rural Health Transformation money. The Arkansas Rural Health Partnership is working on a proposal for all 17 hospitals concerning generators. Her understanding is that they’d rather see proposals from multiple facilities than stand-alone projects at one facility.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe used his time to commend the hospital’s Emergency Department. There have been a high number of critical patients lately, including 31 transfers already this month. This is highly stressful for the staff, and he said they handled it all very well. He ended by saying the staff is adjusting to Dr. Biggers as full-time hospitalist and noted that Dr. Dichelle George is rounding on her patients in the hospital.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams provided an update on the newly remodeled room for pediatric patients at Outpatient Therapy at the Brunson Medical Complex. She showed the board pictures of the room, and it has toys, desks, playmats and more to make it more kid and sensory friendly for those patients. She conveyed the Outpatient Therapy’s sincere thanks to the board for approving it and the members of the maintenance team that made it happen.
Williams finished with an update on Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. The service is growing and is currently housed in two rooms in the Respiratory Therapy Department. They want to explore removing a wall to make one big room to allow for more group therapies and add some space for patients to be more comfortable. The Maintenance Department is gathering information on this potential project.
The meeting transitioned to annual policy approvals with manuals from Electronic Health Records, Emergency Preparedness, and Social Services up for a vote. All three were approved unanimously.
The next portion of the gathering dealt with items for the use of sales tax funds. First on the list was a replacement ventilator. This was already on a capital budget request but is going to cost more than originally thought. The price for a new one is $25,000, and the board approved the use of sales tax funds unanimously. Next up was replacing the sensors on one of the chillers for $16,185.59. The board unanimously approved the use of sales tax money to replace those sensors.
The next item put up to a vote was the purchase of nine new credit card machines for around $5,000. The current ones are becoming obsolete. These new ones also include a way for patients to scan a QR code to allow them to pay their bill more easily. The measure passed unanimously. The last entry for sales tax funds before the executive session was $3,800 to fix the concrete in between the two sets of stairs on the Bradley Street entrance. Work has already begun to have it complete by the hospital’s 75th anniversary celebration in June. The use of sales tax funds for the project passed unanimously.
The meeting went into executive session, but two more items were put to a vote concerning the usage of sales tax funds. They were to pay certain invoices out of the fund and to use $15,000 for a revenue cycle review at the BCMC Rural Health Clinic. Both passed unanimously.
The last order of business was the unanimous approval of medical staff recommendations before the meeting was adjourned.
For the latest news and updates regarding BCMC please like the Bradley County Medical Center Facebook page or follow us on Instagram (BCMCWarren) or X, formerly Twitter (BCMC Warren). To keep up with the most recent news and updates for the BCMC Rural Health Clinic, please like the BCMC Rural Health Clinic page on Facebook.
